By Shamsul Islam
The directive of the RSS-BJP government issued on dated July 9, 2024, stated that the government had “reviewed” instructions issued in 1966, 1970, and 1980, “and it has been decided to remove the mention of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the impugned OMs (Official Memorandums) dated 30.11.1966, 25.07.1970 and 28.10.1980”. The 1966, 1970 and 1980 directives were issued during the reign of Indira Gandhi banning participation of government employees in the activities of RSS and Jamaat-e-Islami. The 1966 directive which set the ball rolling stated that “No Government servant shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with, any political party or any organisation which takes part in politics, nor shall he take part in, subscribe in aid of, or assist in any other manner, any political movement or activity.”
In fact, this directive was the continuation of the rule formulated by the home ministry under Sardar Patel. The Government Servants’ Conduct Rules 1949 prohibited the participation of government employees in political activities. It was done to ensure a neutral and non-partisan bureaucracy unlike the USA where the bureaucracy was normatively aligned with the ruling party described as ‘committed bureaucracy’.
The July 9 directive came to public notice only on July 23 which not only removed RSS from the category of political organization but also from being threat to democratic-secular Indian polity. Interestingly, the earlier pro-RSS Indian governments headed by Morarji Desai (1977-79) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (for 1 month in 1996 and1998-2004) never thought it prudent to do this favour to RSS. It is also important to note that July 9, official order kept mum about Jamaat-e-Islami which was bracketed with RSS by Indira governments. This directive by the Modi government should dismiss all talks of rift between PM Modi and RSS. The former leaves no stone unturned to prove its loyalty to RSS and Hindutva project.
We need to compare the July 9, character certificate to RSS with written and spoken facts in the RSS domain. Has RSS ever been apolitical organization and loyal to democratic-secular India? It never was and is not even today. The opening of gates of RSS for bureaucracy is a dangerous ploy to destroy whatever noble survives in the largest democracy of the world in the last 10 years of Modi rule. Let us judge the reality by ourselves.
Is RSS a non-political organization?
We must compare the RSS claim that it is a cultural-social organization and has nothing to do with politics with the following two statements of M. S. Golwalkar, who headed the RSS after the death of the founder of the RSS, KB Hedgewar, and is considered the greatest ideologue of the organization till date. The first statement tells us about the kind of personnel who are sent to manipulate politics and what is expected of them by the RSS. While delivering a speech on March 16, 1954, in Sindi, Wardha, he said,
“If we say that we are part of the organization and accept its discipline then selectiveness has no place in life. Do what is told. If told to play kabaddi, play kabaddi; told to hold meeting then meeting…For instance some of our friends were told to go and work for politics that does not mean that they have great interest or inspiration for it. They don’t die for politics like fish without water. If they are told to withdraw from politics, then also there is no objection. Their discretion is just not required.”3
[Golwalkar, MS, Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan (collected works of Golwalkar in Hindi), Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, vol. 3, p. 33.]The second statement is also very significant which reads:
“We know this also that some of our Swayamsevaks [cadres] work in politics. There they have to organize according to the needs of work public meetings, processions etc., have to raise slogans. All these things have no place in our work. However, the actor should portray the character accepted to the best of his capability. But sometimes Swayamsevaks go beyond the role assigned to an actor as they develop over-zealousness in their hearts, to the extent that they become useless for this work. This is not good.” 4
[Ibid, vol. 4, pp. 4-5.]We find here Guru Golwalkar referring to the Swayamsevaks loaned to political offshoot as ‘nat’ or performers who are meant to dance to the tunes of the RSS. This fact should not be missed here that Golwalkar’s above design of controlling the political arm was elaborated in March 1960 almost nine years after the establishment of Jansangh (the forerunner of the BJP) in 1951.
RSS has strong political ambitions and designs are further corroborated by a publication of the RSS. The central publication house of the RSS, the Suruchi Prakashan, Jhandewalan, New Delhi, published, Param Vaibhav Ke Path Par (1997) which gave details of more than 40 organizations created by the RSS for different tasks. The BJP as a political organization figures prominently in it at number 3, with the ABVP, Hindu Jagaran Manch, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch and Sanskar Bharti etc. The preface of the book itself declares that “without the knowledge of the different kinds of activities of the Sawyamsevaks (the volunteers of the RSS) the introduction of the RSS is incomplete. Keeping this in mind it has been attempted in this book to produce brief information about the diverse activities of the Sawyamsevaks. This book covers the organizational status till 1996…We believe that this book will prove to be of use for those who want to understand the RSS with the Swyamsevaks”. 5
[Sapre, SD, Parm Vaibhav ke Path Per, Suruchi, Delhi, 1997, p. 7.]
RSS committed to build a Hindu state
If government employees are allowed to join RSS ‘shakhas’ it would be mandatory for them to recite following Prarthana (prayer) and Pratigya (oath), the recitation of which is must in each ‘shakha’.
Prarthana:
“Affectionate Motherland, I eternally bow to you/O Land of Hindus, you have reared me in comfort/O Sacred Land, the Great Creator of Good, may this body of mine be dedicated to you/I again and again bow before You/O God almighty, we the integral part of the Hindu Rashtra salute you in reverence/For Your cause have we girded up our loins/Give us Your Blessings for its accomplishment.” 6
[RSS, Shakha Darshika, Gyan Ganga, Jaipur, 1997, p.1.]Pratigya:
“Before the all-powerful God and my ancestors, I most solemnly take this oath, that I become a member of the RSS in order to achieve all round greatness of Bharatvarsha by fostering the growth of my sacred Hindu religion, Hindu society, and Hindu culture. I shall perform the work of the Sangh honestly, disinterestedly, with my heart and soul, and I shall adhere to this goal all my life. Bharat Mata Ki Jai.” 7 [Ibid, p. 66.]
Thus, the government employees will not be faithful to a democratic-secular India to serve which they took oath while joining the service but would be committed to subvert it into a Hindu theocratic state.
RSS denigrates the National Flag
It is the outcome of its commitment to the building of Hindu nation that the RSS hates the Tri-colour and the Constitution of India, the two great symbols of our secular-democratic polity.
The RSS since its inception in 1925 demanded that India was a Hindu nation, and its national flag should be Bhagwa Jhanda (saffron flag) only. When the Constituent Assembly adopted the Tricolour as the national Flag, the RSS demanded the hoisting of saffron flag at the ramparts of Red Fort in Delhi and openly denigrated the choice of the Tricolour in the following words:
“The people who have come to power by the kick of fate may give in our hands the Tricolour, but it never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.”
[‘Mystery behind the bhagwa dhwaj’ in Organizer (RSS English organ), August 14, 1947.]RSS committed to replace democratic-secular Indian Constitution with Manusmriti
How loyal the RSS is to the Constitution of India can be known by the following statement of Golwalkar, which is being reproduced from Bunch of Thought, which is not only selection of the writings of MS Golwalkar but also a Bible of the RSS cadres.
“Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various Constitutions of Western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is? No.”10
[Golwalkar, MS, Bunch of Thoughts, Sahitya Sandhu, Bangalore, 1996, p. 238.]In fact, RSS wanted this Constitution to be replaced by Manusmriti or Codes of Manu which is known for its derogatory and inhuman references to Untouchables and women. When the Constituent Assembly of India finalized the Constitution of India on November 26, 1949, RSS was not happy. It’s organ, Organizer in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained,
“But in our constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.”
There is no doubt that participation of government employees in the activities of such an organization which openly decries the national Flag, and the Constitution will only hasten the end of a democratic-secular India.
Anti-democracy
The RSS, contrary to the principles of democracy, has been constantly demanding that India be ruled under a totalitarian regime. Golwalkar while delivering a speech before 1350 top level cadres of the RSS at Madras in 1940 declared, “The RSS inspired by one flag, one leader and one ideology is lighting the flame of Hindutva in each and every corner of this great land.”11 [Shri Guruji Samagar Darshan, vol. 1, p. 11.]
This slogan of one flag, one leader and one ideology has directly been borrowed from the programmes of the Nazi and Fascist Parties of Europe. Thus, all those who will join the RSS bandwagon would naturally be anti-thetical to a democratic India.
Against federalism
The RSS is also dead against the federal structure of the Constitution, again a Basic Feature of the India polity. This is clear from the following communication of Golwalkar, which he sent to the first session of the National Integration Council in 1961. It read,
“Today’s federal form of government not only gives birth but also nourishes the feelings of separatism, in a way refuses to recognize the fact of one nation and destroys it. It must be completely uprooted, constitution purified, and unitary form of government be established.” [Ibid, vol. 3, p. 128.]
Imagine the bureaucracy which is supposed to be committed to the federal set-up of India would work to wreck it as per the wishes of RSS.
Role of RSS in Gandhiji’s murder
It is a matter of shame that government employees in India are being permitted to participate in the activities of an organization which was held responsible for the murder of Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi by no less a person than Sardar Patel. Sardar as the first Home Minister of India, in a letter dated July 18, 1948 to a prominent leader of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, wrote:
“As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case relating to Gandhiji’s murder is sub judice and I should not like to say anything about the participation of the two organizations, but our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy. The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of Government and the State. Our reports show that those activities, despite the ban, have not died down. Indeed, as time has marched on, the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities in an increasing measure.”13
[Letter 64 cited in Sardar Patel: Select Correspondence19450-1950, vol. 2, Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1977, pp. 276-277.]If such are the philosophical commitments and activities of the RSS how can any patriotic Indian, what to talk of government employees, be allowed to participate in the RSS activities? It is high time that all those organizations and individuals who have faith in a secular-democratic India must ask the question that when ‘Maoists’, ‘Khalistanis’ and ‘Islamists’, ‘Urban Naxals’ etc. are routinely declared anti-national, jailed and hanged as they aim at subverting the constitutional set-up of India, why is it that RSS remains out of our scrutiny? It is unfortunate that Hindu Separatism is yet to be acknowledged as a serious threat to the Indian democracy despite its terrible anti-national and anti-humanity record. Soon central government offices and institutions are going to witness the functioning of RSS shakhas and boudhik shivir or ideological orientation camps preaching hatred against democratic-secular polity. One positive scenario could be that anti-Hindutva patriotic employees would confront these activities in the offices. Thanks to July 9 directive every office may be divided into two camps. This is how RSS is going to destroy the smooth functioning of the governing activities.
If Congress and other democratic-secular outfits are serious about saving secular-democratic India, they must legally and politically confront the RSS gang with the documents cited above. They also need to weed out the Hindutva elements from their ranks. The time is running out fast.
Link for some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Urdu and translations into Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and video interviews/debates:
http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam
Facebook: https://facebook.com/shamsul.islam.332
Twitter: @shamsforjustice
http://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com/
Email: notoinjustice@gmail.com
Link for procuring Shamsul Islam’s books in English, Hindi & Urdu:
https://tinyurl.com/shams-books
(Originally published on https://shamsforpeace.blogspot.com )
